Friday Favorites – Slacker Edition

As the title suggests, I’m still slacking. I think it’s going to take me awhile to get used to the whole summer schedule. In the past, all I had to squeeze in around my kids was my work-from-home day job and my writing. Now, I’m teaching part-time and trying (and not necessarily succeeding) my hand at social networking. I do have some great posts, just not as many as I usually do:

First up, two great posts on Pinterest. I’ve joined Pinterest, but I’m still learning the ropes. You can find me here: http://pinterest.com/seschroeder/

Amy Clark from Momadvice has a post on being a Pinterest superstar. Then August McLaughlin offers 5 steps to making Pinterest-friendly blog posts. I know I’m nowhere near there yet (no great pictures to pin from here), but I hope to utilize that information soon.

Lani Diane Rich has an excellent post on how you need to fail in order to succeed. I think most people would agree with this, at least in theory. It’s something that I’ve tried to drill into my kids’ heads. But the thing is, I’m one of those people who have avoided doing anything unless I was pretty darn sure I’d be good enough at it to succeed. Writing for publication is the only risk I’ve ever really taken. I’ve always been a writer, and I knew I had skills, but writing for publication is more than being a good writer. You have to be a storyteller. That’s the part I’ve been so unsure of. How could I not be? After writing and getting rejections, you start to wonder. But when you look at some of those rejections, they can give you hope. I’m not one of those writers who has saved every rejection to either show to other new writers or to burn in a big pile when I think I’ve made it. I’ve only saved the ones that gave me hope. A little hope is all you need.

Finally, Trish Loye Elliot has a great post on advice to writers from the masters.

What was the best advice you’ve ever received?

Friday Favorites – Setting Goals, Not Resolutions

This week’s Friday Favorites post is going to be short. I think most people are getting into the spirit of the next holiday. All over the web you can find Best of 2011 lists for just about everything. You can also find a ton of posts on New Year’s resolutions.

I’ve already spoken about how I don’t like the idea of New Year’s resolutions mostly because I’m a natural goal setter.

Keeping goal setting in mind, I’d like to mention Row80. ROW80 is a writing challenge that I’ve seen a lot lately on Twitter. I’d never heard of it before, but after checking it out, it seems much more my speed than Nano. I like the idea of setting my own goals (instead of setting myself up for failure), but there is still accountability.

Over on Writer Unboxed, Jane Friedman talks about making time to do it all. We know that as writers we’re expected to write a darn good book. But we also need to have a presence on-line, whether it be through blogging, Twitter, or Facebook (or some combination of the 3). Of course, this doesn’t even touch on the fact that most writers also have another paying job and families and maybe even a life away from writing. I like this post because Jane doesn’t expect us to give up what we enjoy (like TV) but she talks about doing what makes sense and will work for our lives.

Lani Diane Rich (AKA Lucy March) posted this fabulous idea over on the Bettyverse. I love the concept of a Memory Jar. I’m going out today to find the perfect jar to host our memories. I think this is much better than coming up with resolutions that won’t mean much in the coming months.

Finally, as we close this year out, Ellie Ann Soderstrom has a great post up on unconditional love. This post reminds me of a book I’ve read to my kids, I Love You Stinky Face, by Lisa McCourt:

What’s your favorite story of unconditional love? Please share it. I’m always on the lookout for books to give my kids. I hope you all have a safe and happy New Year celebration.